Did you know that April is Disability Awareness Month in Wilton’s Public Schools?

Every year for the past five years, students at Wilton Public Schools have participated in a number of events meant to encourage understanding of children with special needs and to celebrate the power of inclusion and kindness. All of these activities and takeaways have been sponsored or supported by Wilton’s Parents Advisory Board (PAB), a board made up largely of parents of children receiving special services in Wilton.

The PAB’s mission is to work together with administrators, the PTA and the Wilton Board of Education to improve communication, education and understanding of special education and students with special needs.

Each year the month-long event has grown incrementally, and this year it will include a number of activities for the children.

Depending on which school a child attends, he or she may:

  • Dress up in yellow and black for “Bee Kind” day at Miller-Driscoll.
  • Wear the color of every Cider-Mill house to show the unity within diversity.
  • Attend a presentation led by Wilton High School’s Top Inclusion Models (TIMs), who will teach their younger peers about the meaning of inclusion and give tips on how to stop bullying.
  • Take part in a “mix-it-up lunch” at Middlebrook organized by the TIMs, where students are encouraged to sit with peers who are not part of their everyday social group.
  • Receive a bookmark about a famous or successful person who has struggled with a disability or with mental illness.
  • Receive a bookmark about making friends with someone who may look or act differently.
  • Hear a public announcement about opportunities to join clubs at Wilton High School that support students with disabilities and inclusion.
  • Listen to a donated book during library time that celebrates inclusion and emphasizes kindness and acceptance of others regardless of difference.

In addition, the PAB works with the town to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day on April 2. Along with the international autism community, the town of Wilton will participate in “Light It Up Blue,” a worldwide effort that lights up world landmarks in blue lights (the color of autism) to shine a light on autism. Wilton will once again light up Town Hall with blue lights.

Want to know more about the PAB and its other outreach programs? Know someone else who might benefit from getting information about IEPs, 504s, and /or community services and mental health supports? Please email us or check out our website.